MacAppZone

Feeder: The Simple Way of Creating RSS Feeds

June 19th, 2009 by Erik Bernskiold

RSS Feeds is a good way to distribute news from your websites as well as the primary way podcasts are released to podcatching applications like iTunes. An application that helps you to create the feeds, with no knowledge of XML is Feeder from Reinvented Software.

Feed Organization and Settings

Feeder allows you to organize and have as many feeds as you like. You can group feeds together in groups and sets in any way that you like. You can have a group per website, with sub-groups for test feeds and the real live feeds, or if you have many different.

What you can also do is to optimize the settings from within Feeder to show only what you need when adding new items. For example, when creating a podcast feed, you can select the podcast preset that will give you the input fields required for a good podcast feed that is to go into iTunes. There are also many more presets available, like one for a general text feed, sparkle appcasting (a way to release application updates), media RSS and iTunes U (plus more).

Adding a New Item

Adding new items to a feed is also really simple. All you need to do is click the add item icon in the main window and you’ll be prompted with a new window that asks you for the relevant information, depending on the preset that you have chosen. Just input the desired data and press Command + S to save it. When adding a new item, you can also add enclosures, which are used for podcast feeds.

Once you have added your new item, it is a matter of clicking the publishing button, put in your server information and the application will automatically publish an XML feed for you at the location that you specify. You can then give this to people to subscribe to your feed, or run it through a service like Feedburner.

Creating New Feeds

Reinvented Software has made it a no-brainer to add feeds as well. All you need to do is to click the add button and follow the guide that pops up. You get the option of several presets that will later only contain the fields you need and thus you won’t be prompted to enter more than you ever need to, ending up being more confusing than helpful.

Conclusion

Feeder is a wonderful application when it comes to creating RSS feeds for any purpose. Reinvented Software, the company behind Feeder, has made the application very easy to use even if you don’t have any understanding of how XML works. It’s just a matter of selecting what you want and fill out a form to insert the information and Feeder will take care of everything else for you in the background.

Even if you do know your XML but want a nice application to do it for you, Feeder is definitely something to look at and will definitely cut down on the time required to publish feeds! 

• Developer: Reinvented Software
• Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5 or later
• Price: $39.

Rating: 5/5